


Coming Home

by insanity_times_ten



Series: Home [1]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Adoption, Chaos, Cute, F/F, Families of Choice, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Some angst, jane and lina are married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24425854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insanity_times_ten/pseuds/insanity_times_ten
Summary: Lina and Jane try their best to raise two little girls abandoned at the train station.
Relationships: Anne Boleyn & Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn & Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn & Katherine Howard, Catherine of Aragon & Katherine Howard, Catherine of Aragon/Jane Seymour, Katherine Howard & Jane Seymour
Series: Home [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812958
Comments: 26
Kudos: 105





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WiseGirlEverdeen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WiseGirlEverdeen/gifts), [froggerson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggerson/gifts).



> Gifted to WiseGirlEverdeen and froggerson for all their support.

“W-who are you?” one of the little girls curled up on the train station bench asks me, obviously sleepy.  
“My name’s Lina. What’re your names?” I ask in reply, hoping to keep her awake until I can get them both on a train home with me.  
“I’m Anne, my cousin Kitty’s here too.” Anne eyes me warily, as though I pose a threat.  
“Ok, Anne. I’m going to bring you both home with me, is that ok? I don’t have any clothes or toys for little girls, but I do have a nice, big, warm bed at my house that needs someone- or two someones- to sleep in it. How does that sound?” Anne eyes me still but holds out her arms to be carried. I nestle Kitty in my arms before picking up Anne as well. Neither of them is very heavy. I wonder what Jane’s gonna think, me picking up kids at the train station.   
Once we arrive home, I take the girls up to the guest bedroom and go to find two t-shirts that they can wear as pajamas. When I return to the bedroom with two of Jane’s shirts, I find Anne and Kitty huddled together on the bed, crying.  
“What’s wrong, girls? You’re safe here, there’s no need for you to cry.”  
“W-we thought you had left us, L-Lina.” Anne is trying to speak through her tears, shaking all the while.  
“Oh, no, I would never leave you! I’m going to take care of you,” I say, rubbing their backs reassuringly.  
“’Zat a promise?”  
“No. That’s a fact.”  
Once I coax them to sleep, I go downstairs to face Jane. “Where’ve you been?” she asks almost immediately.  
“I… brought two little girls home from the train station. They’re up in the guest room. One’s Anne, she seems to be older than her cousin, Kitty. They were all alone, curled up for warmth on that bench. I just couldn’t help it.”  
“Aw, Lina, this is exactly why I love you so much. You care about other people, and not just your family and friends. You care about everyone.”  
“Wait, you’re… not mad?”  
“Not a bit. Now, you get their sizes from their clothes and I’ll go buy them a few outfits.”  
Since Jane isn’t mad at me, I feel a renewed sense of purpose. I rush up the stairs and into the girls’ room, careful not to wake them as I take their clothes from the little pile on the floor. I text Jane the sizes and throw the outfits into the washing machine. When Jane finally gets back from the store, she has two bags for each girl. “I didn’t know what colors they like, so I just guessed. I got pink for Kitty and green for Anne.”  
“That sounds great. We'll leave the bags here for tonight, they can look through them tomorrow.”  
“M’kay honey, you go get some sleep, I’ve gotta do some more shopping for our guests.” Convinced, I head upstairs to our bedroom and go to sleep.  
The next morning, I wake up to Anne poking me on the cheek, Kitty standing next to her. “Lina, we’re hungry. Can you make us something?”  
“That,” I say, pointing to the other side of the bed, “is Jane’s department.” The girls run over to Jane and Anne begins poking her cheek. Jane grumbles and rolls to face away from them. I decide to join in the fun, poking Jane’s cheek, almost getting slapped in the process. Kitty winces when I dodge Jane’s swinging arm.  
“Come on, Janie, we’re hungry!” I wink at the girls. “Will you make us some pancakes?” Anne begins to bounce up and down at the prospect of pancakes. Kitty still looks shaken from my close encounter with Jane’s half-asleep arm.   
Jane sits up and rubs the sleep out of her eyes. “I guess I could make some pancakes for you lovely ladies,” she sighs, getting out of bed, “although I could use some help…” Anne and Kitty practically throw themselves onto her while volunteering to help with breakfast. I get out of bed as well and give Jane a kiss on the cheek on my way to the bathroom to get ready.  
After breakfast and after the girls have looked at the clothes Jane picked out, I sit down with Anne, determined to get some information out of her.   
“So, Anne,” I say, “how old are you and Kitty?”  
“I’m 6, Kitty’s 3.” We continue on like this for awhile, me asking questions and her giving short answers. I then realize that she’s uncomfortable around me, so I decide to prod gently.  
“Anne, what’s wrong? We can stop talking for today if you’d like.” She’s silent for a little while, then hesitantly speaks up.  
“Lina, I’m confused. Why did you kiss Janie earlier?”  
Oh, God. “Well, we love each other,” I decide is a good answer.  
She cocks her head to the side. “I didn’t know a girl could love another girl.”  
“Anyone can love whoever they want in this house.”  
“Ok. I’m not confused anymore.” She runs off, I assume to go find Kitty. I go into the living room to talk to Jane.  
“How was it with Anne?” she asks.  
“It was fine. I think whoever she was living with before might have been homophobic, though.”  
“Why do you say that?”  
“She told me she didn’t think girls could love other girls.”  
“Lina, she’s- how old is she?”  
“She’s six.”  
“Well, she’s six. She’s still young, no one’s probably told her anything about what being gay or straight or anything else means yet.”  
“I guess you’re right,” I sigh, defeated.


	2. New Mama

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kitty gives Jane and Lina new names, and Anne reveals their dark story of finally coming home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~trigger warning: mentioned domestic abuse and gun violence~

The girls have been living with us and doing just fine for a week. Kitty isn’t speaking too much, but she seems really shaken up by the new environment, so Jane and I are just letting her acclimate. Anne couldn’t be farther from her opposite, though. She goes around the house talking to me, Jane, herself, even the walls, anyone and anything that’ll listen to her.  
One day, at about two in the morning, Kitty wakes me up. “Mama?” she asks.  
“No, Kitty, I’m not your mama,” I say sleepily.  
“Mama,” she insists, obviously on the verge of tears.  
I sigh to myself and sit up. “I guess I can be Mama tonight. What’s wrong?”  
“Bad dream,” Kitty says, hugging a blanket to herself.  
“Bad dream? Do you want to go back to your room and sleep with Anne?”  
“No. Sleep with Mama and Janie.”  
I scoot over and pat the space between Jane and myself. “Hop on up here then.” She snuggles herself up next to me and falls back asleep almost immediately.  
A few hours later, I wake up again, this time to a tug on my sleeve. “Lina?” Anne’s voice asks quietly. “Where did Kitty go? I woke up and she wasn’t next to me like normal.”  
“Oh, honey, she’s right next to me. She had a bad dream last night and wanted to sleep in here. I’m sure she didn’t mean to scare you.”  
“Ok. Can we have french toast for breakfast?”  
“That, my dear, is a question for Jane.” Kitty is really the only one who calls her Janie anymore. “Don’t wake her up though, she’ll flip out. You can go downstairs and watch cartoons if you want to.” She bounces up and down excitedly and runs downstairs to go turn on the TV. I roll over and tap Kitty on the shoulder. “You don’t have to get up yet if you don’t want to, but Anne’s gonna watch some cartoons downstairs till Janie gets up.” Her eyes flutter open and she clambers off the bed to go watch TV with Anne but stops in her tracks.  
“Mama come too!” she cries, not wanting to leave my side for a minute.  
“Mama’s coming, Mama’s gotta go potty first though.” When I exit the bathroom, she’s sitting right outside the door, smiling up at me. “Silly girl,” I say, picking her up and ruffling her hair.  
After about an hour of cartoons, Jane comes downstairs. “So,” she says, “what’s for breakfast?”  
“French toast,” I reply over my shoulder.  
“You made french toast?”  
“I thought you were asking what we wanted!”  
“No, I wasn’t, but I’m assuming you haven’t made anything either.”  
“Nope, that’s your job!” I say cheerfully. “So how about that french toast?”  
“Coming right up, I’m assuming I don’t have a choice.”  
“Correct!” I turn back to the TV while Jane makes breakfast.  
“Mama, is Janie mad?” Kitty asks, seemingly scared.  
“No, baby, Janie’s just tired.” Hearing us, Jane bursts into the room.  
“Lina? A word?” she says through gritted teeth. I follow her into the kitchen. “What did she just call you?”  
“She started calling me mama at like 2 o’clock this morning, I didn’t know it was gonna start being my name.”  
“Well, what am I, then?”  
“As of right now, you’re still just Janie to her, is that a problem?”  
“No, I just… I think… ugh, you know what? I’d kinda like to be Mom or Mommy or something like that if you’re gonna be Mama.”  
“Yeah, I get what you mean, but are we gonna make Anne start calling us her moms if Kitty is?”  
“I think we should let her choose, and if she wants to now, she can, but if she doesn’t want to right now, we shouldn’t force her to.”  
“Well, do you have a name in mind for yourself?”  
“I think I’d like to be Mommy.”  
“Alright, I’ll go tell them.” I go back into the living room and sit Kitty on my lap.  
“Hi Mama,” she says almost immediately.  
“Kitty, Janie told me that if I’m gonna be your Mama, then she wants to be your Mommy. Is that ok?” She nods in approval.  
“Lina, if she’s gonna call you guys Mama and Mommy, does that mean I have to?” Anne pipes up from her spot on the floor.  
“No, not if you don’t want to. You can think about it though.”  
“M’kay. Can I try it out for today?”  
“Of course, sweetie.” Just then, Jane announces that breakfast is ready.  
During breakfast, Kitty spills all sorts of syrup on herself, warranting bathtime with Jane. I take this as an opportunity to talk to Anne. “Do you wanna tell me how you ended up at the train station that night?” I ask her.  
“I guess I can.”  
“Ok. Tell me as much as you want.”  
“Well, my daddy died when I was little, and Mommy had to go away, my brother George said it’s because she went crazy. So we moved in with Kitty’s family, she wasn’t born yet though. Kitty’s mommy was nice to us, but her daddy didn’t really pay us much attention. We were there for maybe a year when Kitty was born. After she was born her daddy started hitting her mommy. But that one night he got his gun out, and- and he started going around with it, shooting at doors and windows and stuff. Me and Kitty stayed together in the downstairs bathroom, and I almost got hit when I went to go see if it was ok to leave. Then Kitty’s big sister came and got us and we went down to the train station, she said we were going to go get on a train to Grandma’s house, but then… she… she just left us there, and we didn’t know what to do, so we just went to sleep on the bench and we probably would have stayed the night there if I hadn’t woke up when you sat down.”  
“Wow, Annie, that’s a lot. Are you sure you’re ok?”  
“Yeah, I’m fine, Mama. I guess this means you’re my Mama now?”  
“It can if you want it to.”  
“I think I do want it to mean that. I think you’re a good mama and Jane’s a good mommy.”  
I could swear my heart just broke into a million pieces. I wrap the little girl into my arms and wish I could never let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love how I can just write dark stuff and be like “Huh. That happened.”  
> Kudos and comments much appreciated!  
> ✨🧚♀️✨ enjoy! ✨🧚♀️✨


	3. New room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne and Kitty pick out things for and decorate their room, yet it isn’t complete without a trip to Walmart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one night. I really need a sleep schedule. Love you guys!

“Hey Anne, come look at this catalogue!”  
“I’m coming, Mama!” This is what can be heard from our living room this afternoon, as Jane and I have begun the adoption process for Anne and Kitty and are letting them redecorate their room. We’ve already gotten bunk beds but are still looking for other furniture. Jane is perusing the Facebook marketplace for used dressers and desks, and I am helping Anne and Kitty find decorations.  
“Ooh, I like that!” Anne exclaims, pointing to a white bedspread with green polka dots. Kitty, who is sitting next to me with her thumb in her mouth, points at one that nearly matches Anne’s pick, except it is pink with white polka dots.  
“You want that one, Kitty?” I ask, to which I receive an enthusiastic nod. “Alright, we’ll order those two, then. What color do you want the walls to be?”  
Anne whispers back and forth with Kitty for a few minutes, and they seem to come to a consensus. “We want light blue walls but can we pretty please have a chalkboard wall as well?”  
I look over to Jane to gauge her reaction, which seems to be a positive one, and say, “I think we can make that happen.”  
“Yay! Thank you!” Anne shouts, and Kitty hugs my arm.  
A few weeks later, it’s time to decorate the room. We’ve already painted it, and let me tell you, it’s pretty mentally taxing to have four people sleep in one room, even just for two days while the paint dries in the other bedroom.   
“So, girls, where are we gonna put your bed?” Jane asks. “I think we should put them right here.” She walks over to stand in the corner of the room farthest from the door. The bed would be on the opposite wall from the chalkboard wall. Anne and Kitty both give her a thumbs up to this idea. “And then,” she continues, “we could put your desk up against the chalkboard, and your dresser could go here!”(“here” is the wall opposite the door)  
“Alright,” I say jokingly, “looks like you ladies have got this, I’m gonna go take care of some stuff around the house, call me when it’s time to put up decorations and all that.” Jane looks at me like I’ve just been beheaded.  
“You? Do housework? I must be dreaming. Have fun.” And with that, I go downstairs, surprised that Jane didn’t try to stop me.   
After watering every plant in and out of the house, washing the dishes, and doing two loads of laundry, Jane finally calls me upstairs. “We’ve got all the furniture in place, now you get to help them put the decorations up and put their things away.” Finally, something I can help with.   
“Ok, girls, who’s sleeping on the top bunk?” I ask, expecting a huge fight to break out, but I’m pleasantly surprised.  
“Me!” Anne says, and Kitty doesn’t disagree. We put the lime green sheets and the comforter Anne picked out onto the upper bed, along with a few green throw pillows and a regular pillow as well. Once that’s done, we move on to Kitty’s bed, putting the sheets, this time hot pink, and the blanket that she picked out onto the bed. She’s picked out two throw pillows to decorate with, one fluffy pink, and one gold and silver sequin one, so we put those on the bed alongside her regular pillow. We put their clothes into the dresser and closet, and I make a mental note to take them clothes shopping soon. After Anne finishes putting all the art supplies into the various desk drawers and I finish shelving books, Jane calls us down for lunch, which is macaroni and cheese.   
After lunch, the girls help me put up the wall and ceiling decorations, and then we invite Jane to come see the room.   
“Holy moly, this is beautiful!” she exclaims upon seeing it. Anne and Kitty stand in the middle of the room, smiling sweetly, and I take a picture to put into the family photo album. The girls take Jane on a tour of the room, and I realize something. They have an organizer meant for toys, but they don’t have any toys.  
“Girls, come with me. We’re going shopping,” I say. Anne and Kitty follow after me, and Jane does as well when she understands that I’m not leaving her behind. We pile into the car and drive to Walmart. “Now I realize that this isn’t the best place to buy clothes, but-”  
“Are you kidding? This is awesome!” Anne gets very excited, and I vaguely register that she and Kitty may have never been to a Walmart before.  
“Okay then, let’s go!” We grab two carts, because I feel like we might get a bit too much stuff for one cart today. I lead the way to the little girls’ clothes section, and I let Anne look around. Jane and Kitty go into the toddler section, as Kitty is a bit small for anything in the girls’ section. I notice that Anne gravitates toward the t-shirts and hoodies, the less girly stuff. She completely avoids the dresses, and I can’t help but laugh at the face she makes as she passes them. She picks out a few shirts and about ten pairs of various types of pants and asks me a question.  
“Do I have to get things from the girls’ clothes?”  
“Of course not, darling. You may want to get all your bottoms here though, I’m not sure how boys’ sizing works for those. But yeah, we can look for shirts in the boys’ area.”  
“Ok. They have better prints anyway.” She gets some more pants and shorts while I grab socks and underwear for her and Kitty. When we go over to the boys’ section, she grabs almost every space or superhero themed shirt in sight, only turning down items that aren’t in a size that would fit her. We meet up with Jane and Kitty in the toy section. I see that Kitty has picked out the most pink and purple, sparkly, frilly, girly clothes in the toddler department. And dresses. Lots of dresses.   
“Alright girls, we’re going to get toys that you’ll both like and a stuffed animal for each of you. Sound good?” I say, earning a nod from both girls. We get Legos, Barbies, puzzles, board games, a doctor set, and horse figures. Then Anne stops, eyeing all the bicycles.   
“Woah! Mama, can I have one?”  
“Well, I guess so, if Kitty wants one as well.” Kitty nods in agreement. She chooses a Disney Princess bike and a unicorn helmet, and Anne’s pick is a black bike with green splatters and a lime green helmet. Both bikes have training wheels on them.   
After we pay for the load, which ends up costing a little over $400, we head to get a snack. Both the girls beg for ice cream, so I pull into the Dairy Queen drive through. Anne requests a lemon-lime slushy and says that Kitty likes hot fudge sundaes. I order a banana split for me and Jane to share as well.   
Once we are home and I’ve washed the girls’ sticky hands and faces, we set all four of ourselves to unpacking and putting away the new clothes and toys. Now the room looks like it belongs to two little girls.   
Later in the evening, just before bed, Kitty comes up behind me and hugs my legs tight. “Thank you, Mama!” she says quietly.  
“No problem, baby,” I reply just as softly.


	4. New Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know you’ve all been waiting for this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ✨✨trigger warnings✨✨  
> 🔮mentioned domestic abuse   
> 🔮mentioned gun violence   
> 🔮courtrooms (idk if this is a trigger just putting it out there)  
> 🔮arguing (just a lil bit)  
> ✨✨enjoy!✨✨

Today’s the day. Today we go to fight for our babies. They’re not ours yet, but it still feels like they are. Since I graduated law school, I am technically a lawyer, and I am representing our family. I don’t know who will be there for Kitty’s biological parents, but I do know that I’ve put together what I think is a convincing argument.

-during the hearing-

“Your honor, I believe this man, Mr. Howard, should have been put in jail long ago. From what his six-year-old niece has told me, he began physically assaulting his wife approximately three years ago, and from what I gather, mental and verbal abuse may have been occurring before or even during this time. One night about two months ago, Mr. Howard got out his gun and began prowling through the house, shooting through doors and windows looking for his wife, perhaps to injure or even kill her. His niece hid in a bathroom with his youngest daughter, and when she went out to see if it was safe, she was almost shot in the head. Might I remind you, she was six at the time, and her cousin was three. Around an hour later, Mr. Howard’s oldest daughter took them to the station, supposedly to board a train to near where their grandmother was living, and left them there. I was coming home from a visit to my sister and her family when I came across the two of them, huddled together on a bench, asleep. This is not something that any child should have to deal with, especially at such young ages.”  
“Thank you, Ms. Aragon. Now to hear from the opposing party?”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Could we have Miss Anne Boleyn come to the stand, please?”  
“State your name.”  
“My name is Anne Mary Boleyn.”  
“When and where were you born?”  
“I don’t remember where I was born, but my birthday is January 18, 2014. Why are you asking all of these questions?”  
“We just want to know about you. Now, if you were given the choice, would you stay with Ms. Aragon and Ms. Seymour, or would you go with Mr. and Mrs. Howard?”  
“I would want to live with Lina and Jane because they love me and Kitty and we love them.”  
“What do you know about your birth parents?”  
Anne hesitates. “My daddy died when I was little, I don’t know about him. Mommy went away too, so I don’t know about her either.”  
“How old were you when they left you?”  
“I was just a baby when daddy died… George said mommy got taken when I was two.”  
“Who is George?”  
“He’s my brother. He was nice to me, I guess, he didn’t hit me. And he made me laugh. I think he’s a pretty good guy. He’s twelve now.”  
“And who is Kitty?”  
“She’s my cousin, the one sitting with Lina and Jane. She’s only three and she doesn’t talk much. She still gets scared sometimes. One time Jane was sleepy and almost hit Lina on accident, and she got really scared. She started to cry and I had to give her hugs.”  
“Do Ms. Aragon and Ms. Seymour ever fight?”  
“Yeah, but it’s just little arguments about stuff like who left their socks on the bathroom floor or who’s gonna do the dishes later.”  
“Do they ever hit you?”  
“Not on purpose.”  
“What do you mean by that?”  
“Sometimes they aren’t paying any attention and they’ll run into me, once Jane spilled her tea on me when she and I came around a corner while she was on the phone.”  
“So none of it hurts too much?”  
“Right, except the time I hit my head on the wall when Lina tripped over something on the floor and ran into me. But then she gave me an ice pack and it was ok.”  
“Ok, you can go sit down. Could Miss Katherine Howard please come to the stand?”  
“Your honor, she has severe anxiety, she barely speaks to us or Anne!”  
“I asked if she could come to the stand. She doesn’t have to answer all the questions.”  
“State your name.”  
“K-Katherine...June...H-Howard.”  
“When and where were you born?”  
“...I don’t remember.”  
“That’s ok. Would you rather go with Ms. Aragon and Ms. Seymour or Mr. and Mrs. Howard?”  
“I wanna live with Lina and Janie!”  
“What do you know about your birth parents?”  
“Daddy hurt Mommy… and Lily… and George… and Abby… and Annie… and me.”  
“Who are Lily and Abby?”  
“They’re my sisters… Lily was nicer than Abby… Abby hit me.”  
“Why did she hit you?”  
“I asked her to play horsies with me and she said no and then when I asked again she hit me. Can I go sit down now?”  
“Yes, you can. I have made my decision. The care of Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard will be the sole responsibility of Ms. Aragon and Ms. Seymour.” The courtroom erupts into cheers. “Do you wish to change the surnames listed on their birth certificates?”  
“Yes. Yes we would! Aragon-Seymour is the correct surname.”  
“I will get that sent off at once.”  
I wrap my family in a hug and don’t want to let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do I do this to myself... maybe I should sleep sometimes...


	5. New School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I really did not expect this fic to blow up the way it did. Thank you all for the support!

Now that we are a family, we have to decide what school Anne will attend. She didn’t finish kindergarten as a result of what happened with the Howards, but she’s smart, I’m sure she’ll be able to catch up. The public school in this town isn’t an option, as it is full of people who know her and her biological family. She can either go to the private school across town or the public school in the next town over. Jane and I decide to let her choose.   
“Anne, honey, can you come in here?” Jane calls from the kitchen table, where we’re sitting together.  
“Yeah, hold on Mom, I’ll be in in a sec!” Anne has taken to calling Jane “Mom” instead of “Mommy” because she says the latter reminds her of her biological mother. She runs into the room.  
“Anne, we wanted to ask you what school you wanna go to. It’s a big decision, and you have time to make a choice, but you can’t go back to your old school.”  
“Yeah, I know. I wanna go to the private school.”  
“Ok- wait, how do you know?”  
“I’ve been listening!” she says, skipping back into the living room.   
“That girl,” I say, “is something else.”  
“We’ve got papers to fill out,” Jane reminds me. So, we get to work registering Anne for the school year at Willow Academy.   
A few days later, Anne receives a card in the mail from her new teacher, Ms. Moss, who offers words of encouragement for switching schools. Also included is a supply list for the class. There are loads of things Anne has to get, including:  
a 3-ring binder  
Dry erase markers  
Band-aids  
and Clorox wipes  
among other things, that was just what stood out to me. Ms. Moss has also given Anne the name, email address, and phone number of a girl who can help her with learning the rules and those sorts of things, which I think is pretty sweet of her. The girl’s name is Anna Cleves. “Anne, why don’t you go upstairs and start talking to Anna?” I say, more a command than a question. Jane and I had gotten both girls iPads in celebration of the adoption. She nods her head enthusiastically and sprints up the stairs, clearly excited to be talking to one of her future classmates.  
The next day, I help Jane load the girls into the car to get Anne’s school supplies. We’ve already ordered her art supplies and the supplies for Ms. Moss on Amazon, just to limit how long we’re in Walmart. Anne picks out a solid green backpack with a matching lunch box and water bottle, as well as a green polka dot binder and green monster pencil case. Now all that’s left is her outfit for the first day, and picking this out will warrant a battle between Anne and Jane. After a rather heated argument over dresses, a compromise is made. Anne picks out a green romper with pink flamingos scattered over the fabric, and Jane seems okay with it.   
Finally, the first day of school arrives. Jane and I are dreading having to send Anne to school, but we both know it’s for the best. Anne, on the other hand, seems excited to go to school. She will finally get to meet Anna, who she has been messaging nonstop for almost a month now. Anne’s hair is in space buns and she’s dressed in her romper. Kitty, who has just recently turned four, runs to give her big sister a hug before I head out the door to take Anne to school. On the car ride to school, Anne busies herself with idle chatter.   
“Anna’s gonna wait outside for me, she told me so.”  
“That’s nice of her, honey.”  
“Yeah. Do you think Kitty’s gonna miss me?”  
“Of course she’ll miss you, you’re her big sister! But, she’s got me and Mom to keep her company.” I pull the car into the school driveway. “Do you want me to walk inside with you?”  
“No, Anna’s waiting for me, remember?”  
“Right, right,” I say, hugging her as best I can in the car. “Don’t forget, Mom and Kitty are picking you up today!”  
“Yep, I know,” she absently replies, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek and running up to the school building. She finds Anna and gives me a wave to leave.   
~~~~~~~~~~  
When I return home, Jane and Kitty are making a mess in the kitchen, baking and singing along to Disney music. I wait outside the kitchen for about five minutes until “Beauty and the Beast” comes on Jane’s phone. As soon as I hear the opening chords, I burst through the kitchen door and start singing, causing Jane to nearly jump out of her skin. I pick Kitty up from where she is sitting on the counter and begin to twirl about the room with her.  
Whenever this song comes on, Jane and I have to sing it together because Beauty and the Beast was the first movie we watched together. She was feeling a bit under the weather on the night of one of our dates, so I brought over pizza from her favorite restaurant and we watched movies, Beauty and the Beast being the first one.  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
Jane begins to laugh at Kitty and I, so I put Kitty down and pull Jane away from where she is standing, and I begin to dance with her instead.   
“I can’t dance, you know that!” she protests.   
“That’s why I’m leading,” I reply pointedly. When the song ends, I pull Jane close and press a long kiss to her lips. Kitty slaps her hands over her eyes and giggles.


	6. Pumpkins and Cider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane and Lina take the girls to visit a pumpkin patch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m a small town girl, don’t sue me. This isn’t unlike something I would do at six years old.

On a weekend sometime in October, Jane and I decide to take Anne and Kitty to the pumpkin patch. We all pile into the car on a crisp Saturday morning and head out of town. It’s a little under an hour’s drive, so Jane has snacks and water bottles packed for the girls, who have brought the Nintendo Switch (Anne) and at least four dolls (Kitty) to keep themselves entertained in the car.  
“Mommy, where are we going?” Kitty asks after about 15 minutes of driving.  
“We’re gonna go look at pumpkins, Kit,” Jane replies.  
“That’s boring,” Anne groans, rolling her eyes.  
“Well, maybe if you’re good, we can go to the costume store afterwards,” I bargain, making eye contact with her in the mirror.  
Anne sighs. “Fine,” she mumbles, engrossed in her video game again.   
I lean toward Jane. “Is it possible that we already have a teenager on our hands?” I say this loudly enough that Anne and Kitty can hear me.   
“Silly Mama!” Kitty giggles. “Annie’s six!”  
“Yeah,” I tease further, “she's a regular teenager!”  
This time Anne speaks up. “No I’m not!” she says rather indignantly, kicking my seat from behind.  
“Hey now, don’t kick Mama’s seat,” Jane warns. “We’ve got a long drive ahead of us, and we don’t want a grumpy Mama, do we?”  
“No,” Kitty and Anne halfheartedly chorus in reply. The rest of the ride is mostly silent except for a few I’m hungry’s and I’ve gotta pee’s from the backseat.   
Once we arrive at the pumpkin patch, Anne becomes a whole new person. She tugs Kitty toward the small petting zoo that has been set up near the entrance. The miniature donkey develops a liking for Kitty, practically begging her to pet its nose time and time again. Not too soon after being dragged away from the petting zoo, Anne pulls Jane and I to a sign advertising hayrides every hour on the hour.   
“Maybe we can catch one, Annie,” I say. “It looks like one just left not too long ago. Let’s go through the corn maze, how does that sound?” Both Anne and Kitty become excited at this idea, running ahead of Jane and me once we get into the maze. “Don’t get too far ahead!” I warn them.   
“They’re gonna get lost,” Jane notes.  
“We’ll find them. It’s fine.” Miraculously, all four of us make it out of the maze just in time to catch the next hayride. We climb onto the trailer and sit on the various bales of hay, Jane settling Kitty on her lap and me making sure Anne doesn’t fall off of the trailer and get herself killed.   
“Look, Mama, I’m the king of the world!” Anne shouts, striking the iconic pose from atop a hay bale.  
I can’t help but laugh at her antics before I chastise her, saying “Alright, Jack, get down before you fall off of the ship.” This warrants laughter from both her and Kitty, and even a chuckle from Jane.  
Somehow we make it back to the pumpkin patch with nothing more than sore bottoms and hay in Anne and Kitty’s hair. Jane decides that we need to stop at the small outdoor cafe near the entrance to the pumpkin patch. Jane and I both order hot apple cider, and the girls spy cookies shaped like pumpkins to buy. We find a place to sit on a bench not too far from the cafe. Not too long after we get settled, Anne is begging me for a taste of my cider. After a few sips, she decides that she needs some for herself, and Kitty joins in asking for it as well. Jane makes Kitty taste some first, and she makes a sour face after barely getting any on her tongue. Now she is content to nibble on her cookie.   
Finally, after much pleading, Anne and Kitty decide to leave the little cafe to go look at pumpkins. We get two large orange ones to carve and a few various other types of gourds for decorations in the house. In the car on the way home, the backseat is silent, and I look in the rearview mirror to see two sleeping girls. We can skip over the costume store for today.


	7. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ANNE’S POV ANNE’S POV ANNE’S POV
> 
> GIANT TIME SKIP:  
> ANNE IS 16  
> KITTY (KIT) IS 14

God, could a teacher be any more boring? I rush from geometry to my English class on the other side of the school. I’m nearly there when a girl I assume is a freshman (she’s short) runs into me. 

“Oh my god, I am so sorry!” she says as her books scatter across the floor. 

“It’s fine. Let me help you with that.” I kneel down to help her with the mess. 

“I’m new here. My name’s Catherine Parr, but everyone calls me Cathy.”

“Well, Cathy, welcome to Sheridan High. I’m Anne Aragon-Seymour. I’m a junior, what about you?”

“Oh, I’m a junior too, that’s neat!”

“Yeah. What class are you headed to?”

“I’m off to biology.”

“Cool. Listen, I gotta split, but I’ll see you at lunch. I’ll give you my number, we can talk.”

“Alright, see ya.” We go our separate ways. 

After being thoroughly ridiculed for my poetry, it’s finally time for lunch. I don’t buy the school lunch, so once I grab my lunch bag from my locker, I’m good to go. I walk through the cafeteria and see New Girl Cathy sitting by herself.

“Hey, come on. I usually eat outside with my friends, if you’d rather come sit with us.”

“Thanks, that sounds great.” We walk outside to a tree which Anna and Kit are already sitting under and joking around. Anna looks up immediately when Cathy and I sit down. 

“Who’s the new girl?” she asks. 

“This is Cathy Parr, she’s new here. I literally ran into her on the way to English. Cathy, this is my sister, Kit,” Kit waves, “and my friend, Anna Cleves.”

“Hi. Anne, you said something about giving me your number?”

“Yeah, here, give me your phone. I’ll put my number in it.” She hands over her cellphone and I punch my number into a new contact as she does the same for mine. “I’ll add you to the group chat when I get home, text me whenever.”

“She doesn’t sleep,” Kit pipes up.

“I do sleep, just not a lot! Just don’t text me between 3 and 6 am.”

“Got it.” Cathy checks her watch. “We should probably get eating, we’ve only got 15 minutes.”

“You’re right. Anna, want an orange?” She chucks a small bag of grapes at my head in response.

It’s near the end of the day, and while I’m in the bathroom between classes, I hear crying in the stall next to me. I knock on the door. “You good in there? I bet I can help whatever problem you’re having.” Usually when someone is crying, it’s either A) boy trouble or B) some freshman who got their period. A puffy-eyed Cathy opens the door and pulls me in by the shirt. My last class of the day is a study hall, I’ve got nothing but time. “What’s wrong?” 

“I wrote a short story for English, and when I stood up to read it, the teacher just laughed at me.”

“Yeah, Mrs. Martin is a jerk. She took a whole class period to tell part of my class just how bad our poetry was.” Somehow, I’m just noticing Cathy's eyes for the first time. What color are they? I can’t tell.

“Oh, wow. That sounds terr-” Before I can realize what I’m doing, I interrupt her with a kiss. Holy. Crap. She shyly kisses me back, and boy is she a good kisser. 

I pull away and back myself up against the opposite wall as what I’ve done finally hits me. “I… I have to go.” 

With that, I sprint down the hall to the library, where my study hall is. I grab a seat next to Anna. “Psst. Anna. You’ve gotta help me.” 

She looks up from her phone. “What did you do?” she whispers in reply. 

“I just kissed Cathy in the bathroom.”

“And how am I supposed to help?”

“I think I scared her. I’ve got her number, what do I say?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never scared someone by kissing them! Tell her to meet you at the game tonight or something.”

_ Come to the game tonight. Popcorn on me.  _ I text, not expecting a reply. I get one almost immediately:  _ Deal. What time? _ We text back and forth for the rest of the class.

After the final bell, I shove Kit into my car and lock the doors. “Gosh, Anne, what’s the rush?” she asks, and I blush. “Oh. My. God. Do you have a crush on someone?”

“Yes, and they’re meeting me at the game tonight.”

“Ooh, who’s the lucky person?”

“I’m not telling you. There is one little hiccup, though- I may or may not have kissed them in between classes today, so it’s a little awkward between us.”

Kit screams. “You got your first kiss? I’m so happy for you!”

“You can’t tell anyone. Not even Mom and Mama.”

The game goes off without a hitch, and Cathy is comfortable around me again. We incorporate makeout sessions into our daily schedules, sometimes in the bathroom, others in the elevator, and still others behind the costume rack backstage. Today, two weeks since the game, she asks me “So what does this make us?”

“I don’t know,” I reply. 

“Well, do you want to be my girlfriend?”

I scream internally. “Of course! My parents are going to want to meet you, you know.”

“How’s today? I usually ride the bus home, but I can let my mom know I won’t be home till late.”

“Sounds good. See you after school,” I say before pressing a final kiss to her lips. 

“Backseat today, Kit. Cathy’s coming for dinner,” I say in the parking lot. Kit pouts but obliges. I stand outside the car waiting. When I finally spy her, I wave her over. “Hey! Kit’s in the car with us, so no cuddling or anything.”

“Ok. I think I can hold myself together.” I’m just hoping  _ I  _ can hold myself together.

When we arrive at home, Kit scurries up to our room. I show Cathy to the living room and tell her to make herself at home. I go up to Mama’s office first, as I know for a fact that’s where she’ll be. I poke my head in and knock on the door frame. “Hey, Mama. Just letting you know there’s someone special in the living room that I’d like you to meet.”

“Someone special, you say?” I nod. “I’ll be right down,  _ cariño _ .” That leaves Mom. She’s a bit harder to track down, as she doesn’t follow a distinct schedule. Usually she’ll be in the kitchen if she isn’t in her room. 

I poke my head into my moms’ room, and in the chair in the corner is Mom. I knock on the door. “Mom?” I call out, pulling her out of whatever trance she had been put in by her book.

“Yes, sweetie? What do you need?”

“I just came in to tell you there’s someone I want you to meet in the living room.”

“M’kay. I’ll be down in a bit.” I head back down to the living room to wait with Cathy. She seems nervous, so I try to comfort her.

“They’re nice people, Cathy. They picked me and Kit up from a train station a little over 10 years ago.” Just then, Mama walks down the stairs. “Oh, hey Mama. This is Cathy. Cathy, this is my Mama, but you can call her Lina if you’d like.” 

Cathy jumps up and extends her hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Lina.”

“Oh, no, no, no. We don’t do handshakes in this house,” Mama says. Cathy looks worried until Mama wraps her in a bear hug, which she practically melts into. 

Mom walks in right then. “Who’s this?” she asks. 

“This is Cathy. This is my Mom. Cathy, you can call her Jane if you want. Now if everyone will sit down, I have some news to share.”

“You had better not be pregnant,” Mom says.

“Nope, far from it. Cathy and I are actually dating.” I pause for a minute, not quite sure how to continue. “I’m gay,” I finally say, almost a whisper. 

“ _ ¡No me diga! _ ” Mama exclaims, probably loud enough for Kit to hear.

Sure enough, we soon hear a muffled version of Kit’s voice singing “Tell me something I don’t knooow.” Kit’s been absolutely obsessed with In the Heights lately, so it comes as no surprise.

Cathy looks concerned. “Is that a good thing for her to say?” she whispers.

“She says that when she gets surprised, it’s Spanish for ‘you don’t say.’ Kinda depends on how she says it, if she sounds mad it’s probably not good, otherwise she’s just surprised.”

“Ok.”

“Girls, girls. We are very supportive of the LGBTQ+ community-” Mom begins.

“Obviously,” Mama interrupts.

“Right, anyway, we just wanted to say that we are very proud of you, Anne, for coming out to us.” Mama coughs. “And Cathy for being here with Anne as she made her announcement. Thank you both. Now, what do you girls say we order Chinese food?” Cathy and I agree. 

“Welcome home, Cathy,” Mama says, wrapping the both of us into another bear hug. “We’re glad you’re here, _mija_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s the end! Hope you liked it!


	8. Another burning question...

Hey, ok, I’m gonna do this now.

I want to know something, and this is my most-subscribed-to fic, so yay! Great place to ask a question.

I’ve been writing for me. Most (probably all but I’m not gonna make assumptions) writers do that. I keep stories going because you guys like them. So, I want you to tell me:

What would _you_ like to see?

This can be a continuation of another fic I’ve written, something entirely new, or really just anything you guys wanna see!

Also, I’ve got some ideas for new fics and some AUs I haven’t seen, so keep an eye out for those!


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